[Maxwell]

amazed that ONE little teaser would cause all those conjecture!

Bungie's a master at creating hype.

The regular fans were incensed since the blatant cliffhanger in halo2's ending left them desperate for more.   The long term fans have been speculating since the cortana letters, and it only got worse with the first trailer hinting at the ark on earth and the second trailer linking a character from the books (?) to the main storyline (as well as putting masterchief on the wrong planet(?).

The games not due for months, so everyones gone nuts over any little scrap of info.

[Deepblue]

Speaking of which, I think we can rule out any other Spartan's in Halo 3.

Ghosts of Onyx makes sure of that.

[bloated]

The Covenant doesn't innovate, they imitate.

the authors contradict the comment constantly save for when it suits them for the Covenant to be competely stupid....... it's one of those "mankind is special" comments born from authors that have painted themselves into a corner and need a hail mary in order to get out.

sadly it's the authors need to innovate.